About 29 kilometers north of Venezuela in Southern Caribbean Sea is the beautiful and idyllic island of Aruba. Together with other Dutch territories in the Caribbean, they are referred to as the Dutch Caribbean or the Netherlands Antilles.

About 29 kilometers north of Venezuela in Southern Caribbean Sea is the beautiful and idyllic island of Aruba. Together with other Dutch territories in the Caribbean, they are referred to as the Dutch Caribbean or the Netherlands Antilles. If you are planning a visit to this celebrated Caribbean destination, you better read the following facts about it.

It measures 32 kilometers long and 10 kilometers at its widest point.

Aruba is one of the 4 constituent countries that make up the Kingdom of Netherlands. The others are Netherlands, Sint. Maarten and Curacao.

The island's capital is known as the Oranjestad.

Unlike its Caribbean peers, this island has dry climate with cactus strewn allover its landscape.

Good news! The island is well out of the hurricane belt and thus travellers can expect warm weather throughout the year. In short, the weather is predictable here.

Official languages here are Dutch and Papiamento. Of the country's 102,484 inhabitants, 81 are Roman Catholics.

The system of governance here is unitary parliamentary democracy with constitutional monarch. The monarch is King Willem-Alexander of Netherlands.

The first inhabitants of the island were the Caquetíos Amerinds from the Arawak Tribe. They were escaping frequent attacks from the Caribs in Venezuela.

The first Europeans on the island were the Spanish explorers, Amerigo Vespucci and Alonso de Ojeda.

To get to the country, use the Queen Beatrix International Airport near Oranjestad. You can also use cruise ship lines such as Holland America Line, Disney Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean.